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brices121 · 08-13-2012, 01:21 PM

Brewed this weekend love the color. it doesn't taste bad either. I am excited for the finished product.

LateraLex · 08-13-2012, 02:24 PM

Has anyone compared the effect of baking the pumpkin vs not? It's a step I'd love to avoid, especially in the hot summer.

brewski09 · 08-13-2012, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrettV

I shook the hell out of the carboy before taking the reading, and I took the reading with a hydrometer. I compensated for the temp, which at that point the sample was roughly 80 degrees in my stifling kitchen, and then even stuck the sample in the fridge for a little while to get it closer to 60 degrees and still got the same reading. The final volume was 6 gallons, and that was what I put into hopville for my batch size. I can show you the page here: http://hopville.com/recipe/1627906/spice-herb-or-vegetable-beer-recipes/thunderstruck-pumpkin-ale It really seems like I did everything correctly. This is a head scratcher.

I love Hopville, but it's a free program. 3lb 12oz pumpkin, cooked only yields 1.001 starting gravity when entered alone. I think it's safe to say that's wrong and it should be around 1.034... Enjoy your imperial thunderstruck ale

BrettV · 08-13-2012, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewski09

I love Hopville, but it's a free program. 3lb 12oz pumpkin, cooked only yields 1.001 starting gravity when entered alone. I think it's safe to say that's wrong and it should be around 1.034... Enjoy your imperial thunderstruck ale

Fair enough, but again, that was what the recipe called for. 60 oz of pumpkin. And the OG given by the OP was 1.054, who has claimed to have brewed this countless times over the years. If we're all adding the same amount of pumpkin to the boil, why is my OG 1.089 and his 1.054?

MMJfan · 08-14-2012, 02:34 AM

Transferred my batch from my fermenting bucket to the carboy today. Planning on letting it clear in the carboy for 2 weeks or so and then bottle! This brew looks amazing! Can't wait for the finished product!

FuzzeWuzze · 08-14-2012, 04:21 PM

Made this for the first time yesterday as my first All grain brew ever with my rubbermaid mash tun. Took the 15 gallon batch and split it down to a 5 gallon batch. Ended up with almost exactly 5 gallons after my boil, forgot to add some extra top off water so im sure im going to lose 1/4th of a gallon to trub.

It did come out perfect though, i measured my OG last night and compensating for temperature i got 1.056 @ like 73% efficiency.

I was a little apprehensive because when i was sparging my additional water temp seemed to not bring the temp up high enough. Seemed to stop at around 161.5, but i stirred it and let it sit for 10 minutes like i have read to do, and it came out good OG....

BrettV · 08-14-2012, 04:47 PM

Fuzze- 161 is a perfect sparge temp if you're letting it sit for a few minutes. Check out DeathBrewer's thread on easy partial mash brewing: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/. He mentions that you can still get some conversion in the sparge if you keep the temperature a little lower and let it sit. I think 175 is really only if you're going to do a pour-over method, because water that hot will extract tannins if left in contact with the grain for too long.

On my front, Krausen has been at it for about 2 days now. The first 2 days it was like watching a Guinness continually being poured, there was so much cascading going on around the sides. Because of the volume (and my seemingly ridiculously high gravity) I have a blowoff tube emptying into a cup of sanitized water. I actually had to empty that cup and clean out the tube today because they were both full of foamy gunk. Fermentation seems to have calmed a little today, but the cup of sanitized water is still bubbling away. Very curious to see how this possibly imperial Thunderstruck turns out.

FuzzeWuzze · 08-14-2012, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrettV

Fuzze- 161 is a perfect sparge temp if you're letting it sit for a few minutes. Check out DeathBrewer's thread on easy partial mash brewing: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/. He mentions that you can still get some conversion in the sparge if you keep the temperature a little lower and let it sit. I think 175 is really only if you're going to do a pour-over method, because water that hot will extract tannins if left in contact with the grain for too long.

Thanks, i figured if i hit my OG that's all that really matters, but it was a stressful hour boiling and cooling before i could measure.

Also saw your making a nutella stout, assuming its mjap52's(reddit) it is delicious. Kegged mine about 2 weeks ago and have been tapping it, so good. I took his advice and put in more bakers chocolate in the boil.

BrettV · 08-14-2012, 05:12 PM

Actually, no, I inherited another homebrew starter kit recently that included an extract/specialty grain stout, and I thought I would make it a little more interesting with some cocoa nibs and hazelnut extract, but if you could point me toward his recipe I'd appreciate it. Perhaps I can still use the kit as a base.

FuzzeWuzze · 08-14-2012, 05:28 PM

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/6549/nutella-stout

He recommends adding 1/2 to 3/4ths cup of bakers chocolate powder at the last 15 mins of boil to bring up the chocolate taste.